Psalm 34:8-10 (NLT)
Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
Fear the LORD, you his godly people for those who fear him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry but those who trust in the LORD will lack no good thing.
Many years ago as a single mom, I would hostess at the local grocery store to earn extra money to support my little family. If they were away for the weekend, I would accept assignment preparing samples to share with patron providing coupons for them to try selected items free or at a deeply discounted price. The food was provided by the company for free. The goal of each encounter was to sell the displayed product. Once they tasted the food, they could see that it was good and would buy it. Simple concept. Genius plan. However, there were some drawbacks. There were people who would come on Saturdays knowing that free samples were being given away make a meal of it. This was not the intent of the promotion. The intention of each encounter was to allow people to taste and see that the food was good! Sound familiar? Taste and see that the Lord is good. The joy comes when we take refuge in Him sliding up to the feast that He has prepared before the enemy. Godly people will be satisfied as their encounter with Jesus Christ becomes a daily experience. Those who choose to experience the Lord will lack no good thing.
An encounter is by chance. It is an unplanned casual meeting. Unexpected it becomes an opportunity for an introduction. There are many Christians who will never go any deeper into the satisfying things of God because they live from encounter to encounter. Their relationship with Jesus Christ is simply chance encounters whenever God can get our attention. It is just enough to get from one day to the next but never enough to have a rich and satisfying life. In order to have the rich and satisfying life that Jesus died for us to have requires an ongoing experience with Him. To experience something is direct personal participation. It is intentional. It is actual knowledge and contact with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The origin of the word experience means “knowledge gained by repeated trials.” Have you tasted the Lord to see if He is good? Has doubt, fear, complacency or comfort kept you from returning to the Lord and proving His Word, testing His Promises, and wandering His Way just to see if He is really able to satisfy our soul.
John 17:22-24 (NLT)
“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began!”
Jesus Christ prayed that we would experience “perfect unity” that the world will know that God sent Him and that God loves us as much as He loved Him. The unity that the Lord was talking about here was not for the church to love each other but for each man and woman would individually experience the Love of the Father and the sheer depth of its reality found only in aligning our life with Jesus Christ. Putting all of our trust in Him and experiencing Him in His Fullness as He fills us with His Word which is the beginning of all that He has for us. In order to ever be satisfied as Jesus intended we must know the Father’s Love. It is not discovered in one moment, a church service, on our knees at an altar, in an amazing worship session, or any one place. The only way to fully experience all that Jesus Christ has to offer is to stop trying to catch Him when you can but decide to spend every day pursing the full satisfaction found by all who choose direct personal participation in a faith-full relationship with Jesus Christ. It does not matter what circumstances are surrounding you or the situation that you have found yourself in, His Love is bigger than all that. His Word is rich and satiating. His Way will allow prosperity to become a daily convenience rather than a season of struggle. Jesus Christ invested His Spirit in you. This is the Glory of God in your body. You have all that potential but you just want to come for a quick buffet rushing through rather than sitting at the feast set before you.
Ephesians 3:18-20 (NLT)
And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
The whole point of trusting God is discovering His Love for us. If we would take the time to experience Jesus Christ and His Power in each moment than we would know what it means to be satisfied. I am writing this right now sitting in the room of our son who is battling cancer. The floor is filled with many warriors just like him. We have been here for over a week. His body being aggressively attacked by chemotherapy to kill every single cancer cell. His blood count is almost completely wiped out at this point. He is in a critical situation. We are joking and laughing as if there not a worry or a care. There’s not. I know that God loves me and my son. So rather than crying, worrying, stressing out, I am jamming out to Chris Tomlin singing, “God’s Great Dance Floor” wondering can I get kicked out of the hospital if I start running up and down the halls. “You never stop lovin’ us…no matter how far we run…you never give up on us…all of Heaven shout, “Let the future begin.” I have tried the Lord. I know that He is good. I have dared to push, press, and pull on the parameters of His Love and they just keep going and going. I live to experience more and more of Jesus Christ in His Power every single day of my life. Five bouts of cancer, weeks away from my family and an interrupted life has not left me dissatisfied, discontent or broken. It has proven that God’s Love for me is greater than anything that I have ever experienced. Now I want more. He keeps doing more than I can even think to ask for!
John 6:35 (NLT)
Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Jesus has promised that whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. I challenge believers today with the logistics of this statement. You cannot experience godly satisfaction until you eat the bread and drink the blood. Now before you get all grossed out or think I am forming a cult of some sort. In I Corinthians 11:23-26 it talks about communion with the Lord. The act of communion is our way of recognizing the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. We eat the bread and drink the wine as a sacrament. We are calling His Sacrifice sacred and taking ownership of it. Communion is an act of coming together. We want to experience the satisfaction, promises, miracles, signs and wonders of God but until we decide to accept the Love of God and allow Him to satisfy us from the inside out – it is all for naught. Communion is a sharing. It is an act of participation with God. Human desire can never be satisfied. (Proverbs 27:20) Satisfaction comes from the Lord alone. (Psalm 63:5) He doesn’t promise daily sustenance but complete and total satisfaction and contentment. (Psalm 145:15-16) When we decide to experience the Lord and His Kingdom every day, we are committing to change our appetite. The very thing that kept us bound to the Law can now be satisfied. (Romans 8:3-4) The “just” requirement is complete. Salvation now changes our appetite and we can experience satisfaction left undone by our sinful nature. But you will not change your appetite or taste buds until you change what you are taking into your body every single day. The Spirit will not be satisfied with day old bread or yesterday’s manna. His Word is new just like His Mercy. We think we know it but the more we “eat” it and “taste” its goodness the more we like and the more we want. We have been given an incredible opportunity to feast from God’s Table each and every day. Why are still snatching crumbs from under the table?
I Peter 1:13-15 (NLT)
So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
Prepare your mind for action. It’s time to make a change. Why not try to experience the Lord each and every day? It will take self-control because the world tries to convince us that we are missing out on something but I assure you that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. When I was young, my mother was a smoker. Smoking kills your taste buds so she salted everything heavily. I had never eaten fruits like oranges, apples, watermelon and such without a “healthy” dose of salt so I did not really care for fresh fruits very much. When I got older and had children of my own, I wanted them to have good eating habits. I began introducing fresh fruits and vegetables to all of us. What I found was that without all the salt, I really liked the actual fruit. I think this world gives us such a distaste for the things of God that we do not find a relationship with Him palatable. Jesus Christ had one purpose – to give you a rich, satisfying life. We achieve that by discovering the Love of God and choosing to experience it every single day no matter what. That is faith that takes ordinary trust and turns it into hope which never disappoints. Taste and see that the Lord is good. His Love is worth the time and energy that you invest in knowing Him more. The dividend is contentment and full satisfaction. Now who doesn’t want that? You are no longer a crumb snatcher because Jesus made you the guest of honor.
Psalm 63:5 (NLT)
You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy.
Psalm 145:15-16 (NLT)
The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it. When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.
Pure Devotion 